Japanese Relative Clauses

Japanese Relative Clauses

Last time, you learned how to nominalize verbs and adjectives and make a noun clause like “わたし先生せんせい なの・であること は.” In this lesson, you will take a different approach to express a noun with contexts by using Japanese relative clauses.

Explanation for How Japanese Relative Clauses Work

Basic Rules of Relative Clauses

In Japanese, relative clauses can be made with a very simple structure. You can directly modify a noun by using verbs without conjugations. Let’s check some examples.

なかさんは北海道ほっかいどう旅行りょこう(する / します)。
Tanaka-san will travel in Hokkaido.

If you have the above sentence, you can express it by using relative clauses like this:

なかさんが旅行りょこうする北海道ほっかいどう
Hokkaido where Tanaka-san will travel
北海道ほっかいどう旅行りょこうするなかさん
Tanaka-san who will travel in Hokkaido

Now, let’s form some sentences with the relative clauses.

なかさんが 旅行りょこうする 北海道ほっかいどう にん(だ / です)
Subject Verb Modified Noun  
Relative Clause: Topic / Subject Predicate
Hokkaido where Tanaka-san will travel is popular.
北海道ほっかいどう 旅行りょこうする なかさん 男性だんせい(だ / です)
Object Verb Modified Noun  
Relative Clause: Topic / Subject Predicate
Tanaka-san who will travel in Hokkaido is male.

Regarding the function of relative clauses, you can figure it out by looking at particles placed after modified nouns. In the above examples, the topic particle は is used. Of course, you can make relative clauses with other particles as well.

なかさんが 旅行りょこうする ゆう 調しらべる / 調しらべます
Subject Verb Modified Noun  
Relative Clause: Direct Object Verb
[I will] investigate the reason why Tanaka-san will travel.
わたし なかさんが 旅行りょこうする 北海道ほっかいどう く / きます
  Subject Verb Modified Noun  
Subject & Inclusion Relative Clause: Destination Verb
I will go to Hokkaido where Tanaka san will travel, too.

Grammatical Rules

1. Don’t Use the Polite Form

You can express relative clauses without conjugations and thus you cannot use the polite form in general.

なかさんがつくごはん
Meal which Tanaka-san makes
なかさんが作りますごはん
=> Wrong!

2. You Can Replace the Particle が with the Particle の in Relative Clauses

It may be better for you to try to memorize this rule without logic; however, it is said that the particle の can somehow express something that verbs express, such as, possessors and creators. In Japanese, the following have the same meaning and nuances.

なかさんつくるごはん
Meals which Tanaka-san makes
なかさんつくるごはん
Meals which Tanaka-san makes

Note: This is applicable within relative clauses. And, when there are some elements, the particle が is more natural.

なかさんいえつくるごはん
Meals which Tanaka-san makes at home
なかさんいえつくるごはん
=> Unnatural

The second example above can roughly be translated as “Meals which someone makes at Tanaka-san’s house," which is different from the original meaning.

3. You Cannot Use the Topic Particle は in Relative Clauses

Since the topic should be for whole sentences, you cannot use the topic particle は in relative clauses.

なかさんつくるごはん
Meal which Tanaka-san makes
なかさんつくるごはん
=> Wrong!

Please don’t be confused with particles placed after modified nouns. That is out of relative clauses. The following is correct:

なかさんが つく ごはん 美味おいしい(です)
Subject Verb Modified Noun  
Relative Clause: Topic / Subject Preducate
Meals which Tanaka-san makes are delicious.

Summary

  1. You can directly modify a noun by using verbs without conjugations
  2. In relative clauses,
    • Don’t use the polite form
    • You can replace the particle が with the particle の
    • You cannot use the topic particle は

We think that Japanese relative clauses are very simple and won’t make learners confused. Thus, you can now modify a noun by using verbs correctly. Then, what should you do if you’d like to modify verbs? Next, you will learn how Japanese adverbs work.